Hot Toddy

I love a good cocktail as much as the next girl but one of my biggest complaints is that most cocktails include ice. I'm one of those people who is always cold so having to hold onto an icy glass especially in the colder months is the absolute worst! Because of this, I am a huge fan of hot alcoholic drinks and hot toddies are by far my favorite! It is practically like drinking warm tea which is perfect for this season plus they are super easy to make! Below is one of my hot toddy recipes using a locally made liqueur I picked up this weekend at the Portland Bazaar

Ingredients:

- Mason Jar

- Townshend's Bluebird Alpine Liqueur

- Teavana Maharaja Chai Oolong Tea

- Honey

- Cinnamon Sticks

- Star Anise

 - Lemon Juice

Directions: 

First brew your tea of choice. I am a huge chai fan and one of my friends gave me this loose-leaf chai blend from Teavana that I decided to use.

After brewing the tea, pour it into your glass of choice and add as much honey as you would typically use for a cup of tea. Next pour in a shot of the alcohol. Typically hot toddies are made using whiskey but this past weekend I picked up some liqueur full of herbs and spices which I figured would add a nice touch to my hot toddy. The quantity of alcohol can be adjusted based on how strong you want your drink. Mix until honey is dissolved before adding lemon juice for a bit of flavor. Finally, garnish your hot toddy with a few star anise, a cinnamon stick and if you wish, a slice of lemon and then drink up!

PDX Collective Sale

This morning I attended the bi-annual PDX Collective Sale at The Cleaners. Even though the sale didn't open until 10am, people were waiting in line outside of the doors ready to shop once it opened. Although this sale is occurs twice a year, this was the first year I had heard about it or even attended. For those of you who are in the same boat as me, here is everything you need to know! The sale continues tomorrow and the boutiques will all be restocking beforehand so don't worry about everything good being gone!

What it is: 

This sale is a bi-annual event put on by PDX Collective where 11 boutiques from the Portland area come together to showcase some of their products most of which are on sale. The following boutiques are participating today and tomorrow:

Adorn
Parts + Labour
Gild Shoes
EcoVibe
Cosube
Radish Underground
Mercantile
Lizard Lounge
Bridge & Burn
Lille Boutique
Perican Bing

Where/When:

The sale is located at The Cleaners which is owned by Ace Hotel but is technically in a different location. The address is 403 SW 10th Avenue in Portland, OR. It runs Saturday thru Sunday (9/23-9/24). Today it was open from 10am-5pm and tomorrow it is open from 11am-5pm

What you need to know:

- They take cards

- Since it is multiple boutique shops in one shared room, you still buy each item from the respective boutique. 

- There is a fitting room but it is one communal room that everyone changes in with some mirrors places around the walls. Definitely wear something that is easy for trying clothing on. If you are not comfortable changing around other people, this may not be the sale for you (unless you are okay purchasing without trying first)

- Many of the items are final sale so make sure you read signs

- Get there early. Although the boutiques do restock, it gets really busy really fast so it is nice to be able to see all the product before people start buying, trying on, and carrying around all of the good stuff

What I wore:

For those of you who are interested, here are the deets for what I wore. Like I mentioned before, make sure to wear something that you can easily take on and off for trying merchandise on. A dress was actually really helpful since I mostly tried on other dresses but it can also be great for trying on pants as well. Socks can also be beneficial if you plan on looking at shoes.

Shirt Dress - Forever21 (Although my exact dress is sold out, you can find almost identical items here and here)

OTK Boots - Halogen Scarlett Over the Knee Boots in grey suede

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For more information:

To learn more you can check out the Facebook event page here as well as PDX Collective's Facebook page here.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions and if you attend, what kind of cute stuff you find!

easy tips for staying cool

I think most of us can agree that this summer has been HOT. Although Fall weather is starting to appear in the air, we still have some hot days left like yesterday and even today! For many of us living in houses in Portland, there is no air conditioning or at least none that was put in when the house was built. My place definitely fits in this category and so here I am, trying to stay cool. For those of you out there who also do not have any AC, I wanted to share 5 super easy tips and tricks that I use for staying cool.

 

1. Apply Your Sprays in Front of a Fan

For many of us who wear makeup all day, setting spray is a life saver. When I have a 9 hour day in front of me, I want my makeup to last so I always apply setting spray before heading out the door. My two favorites are Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray and Mario Badescu Facial Spray. Since I am already applying these sprays to my face every morning, I love to sit in front of a fan and do it on hot days. The few seconds in front of the fan before your face dries can be really refreshing and definitely helps to cool you down.

2. Drink lots of water

Now I know that this sounds very obviously but honestly, a ton of us (myself included) do not drink as much water as we should. I remember reading somewhere that by the time you feel thirsty, your body is already dehydrated. The best way I've found to remember to drink water and to make it more enjoyable is by always carrying around a fun water bottle. By having a water bottle with you at work, the gym, in the car etc. you will have a constant visual reminder to drink water as well as it being easily accessible. Drinking water can also be fun! There are so many cool and creative water bottles out there! I personally LOVE straws so I have several water bottles with straws to make it more enjoyable.

3. Hold cold objects to your wrists

In movies and back in high school health class you always learn and see people measuring someone's pulse at the point near their wrist. This is because that area is right over your radial artery which is where your blood is passing through as it circulates throughout your body. By holding something cold to that area you are cooling down the blood passing through that area which then continues through that vein helping to overall cool your temperature. Honestly I am not sure it that theory is backed up by scientific fact but definitely try it because it helps me cool down!

4. refrigerate your moisturizers

One really simple way to help stay cool in the hot weather is to refrigerate your moisturizers between uses! In the summer I use a lot of coconut oil as moisturizer on my whole body but especially my legs which can get pretty dry. The strange thing with coconut oil is that is has a pretty low melting point of only 76 degrees. On hot days my jar of coconut oil has long melted which makes it tricky to use. To make it easier to apply I started to stick it in the fridge which turned out to be great because when I used it, it would start out cold and solid and then melt as I rubbed it in. Since then I have also tried this tactic with my facial moisturizers which feels just as lovely.

5. Slow breathing and less movement

This last trick I actually learned while I was traveling in Italy two summers ago. I was there in the middle of the summer and it was hot hot HOT! In addition to being over 100 degrees, it was extremely humid and no where I went or stayed had air conditioning. What I learned to do was to try to take deep, slow breaths which helped me cool down. Sometimes when it is really hot, we almost start to panic as we realize just how hot and stuffy it is. This can raise our heart rates and actually make us more hot. This goes the same with fanning yourself with your hand or even a paper fan since all of that movement is using energy and making your warmer. Similar to what cats do when it is hot, slow breathing and less movements will definitely help you cool down although at first it may seem like you are still sweating buckets.

Let me know in the comments what other tips and tricks you all have for staying cool! Thanks for reading!

white summer romper

My favorite type of shopping is online shopping and this post focuses on my latest mail delivery. BUT before I dive into how awesome this romper is, I first need to share the bit of backstory that goes along with it...

Originally I had seen the maxi version of this overlay lace romper featured on someone else's blog and immediately fell in love! The one that she was wearing was in Ivory and sold at Nordstrom by the brand Socialite. For a while the ivory color kept going in and out of stock until one night when I was doing my nightly online shopping, there was one small left! I couldn't quite decide whether I was a small or xs but since xs was not an option, I went with the larger size (that's one thing that can be hard about ordering online since it is hard to know what size to get without being able to try it on. Thank god for customer reviews and free returns though!)

[image taken from Nordstrom.com]

When the maxi lace romper came in the mail it fit like a glove except for the length. Similar to this shorter romper, the bottom had a natural scalloped look and so the only way to shorten it would have been to undo the waist and resew it with a shorter skirt. I tried a handful of heels on including my tallest, five inch ones with no luck. Honestly it can be really hard to find maxi dresses when you are short (I'm 5'3") and I usually have to get them altered which over time definitely adds up especially if you factor in all of the jeans and pants I have to get hemmed as well! I SO wanted to love the maxi romper but after trying it on every day for five days straight, I had to face reality and had to return it or else it would spend the rest of its life just hanging in my closet. After facing this sad truth, I started to do some research and found that the brand Honey Punch makes the exact same maxi romper AND makes it in a shorter version. After comparing online prices I found this white romper on the website of an online boutique based in Napa, California called 2weeksnotice.

To my luck, this shorter romper ended up being the perfect compromise since I am able to achieve the same look with the same beautiful lace but at a length that suits my short frame much better! The only difference I noticed between the Socialite maxi romper and this Honey Punch shorter romper is that the v-neck is a lot lower on the later one. Although I have a pretty small bust, I still felt more comfortable with a higher neckline so I took my sewing kit out and sewed up part of the v-neck as you can see in the picture to the right

For those of you interested, this romper is now on sale for $45 from 2weeksnotice boutique in the color white but it is going fast (shop it here)! Click on the following websites to view the romper in other colors as well as the maxi version for you taller babes!

Nordstrom

2weeksnotice

Tobi

ASOS

Dolls Kill

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outfit details

Romper - Free Spirit Lace Romper from 2WN in color "white"

Shoes - B.P. Decker Lace-Up Sandals from Nordstrom in color "nude faux leather"

Necklace - Layered Beaded Choker from Forever21 in "pink/gold"

Charcoal is the new BLACK

Starting a few years back, the presence of activated charcoal in the beauty and health realm has sky rocketed! Recently I feel like I keep seeing charcoal as an ingredient in all of the new beauty products as well as in drinks and some food. There are a good amount of articles out there that either argue the benefits or harms of using activate charcoal. In summary, it sounds like there is just not enough proof to support either of those theories. Back in the day, activated charcoal was used like a sponge to remove unwanted substances from the body in the case of drug poisoning and overdose. With this ability, it is no wonder that the idea of it absorbing other things like oils and bodily toxins is appealing. 

Out of the many charcoal products out there, it can be hard to know which one to get and almost impossible to try them all out! Below I have listed my favorite charcoal products that I have tried so far:

1. Lush Dark Angels Face and Body Cleanser $13.95 - $33.95

Currently this is my absolute favorite charcoal product! I first read about this in an article and since I work so close to a Lush store I went in one day and decided I had to try it! In the store the sales associate demonstrated how to use it and not only is it really fun to use, it also smells great. This cleanser is almost the consistency of cookie dough and comes in a chunk that you can easily pinch pieces off of. Since you have to break off a piece to use it, you can decide how much you want each time which is nice.

So far I have only used it on my face although they technically classify it as a body cleanser as well. This cleanser has black sugar in it which acts as a very light and pleasant exfoliant. It also has organic avocado oil in it to leave your skin not too dried out (I would still recommend using a moisturizer afterwards though).

To use it, I first wet my face and then break off a bit and mix it with water in the palm of one of my hands. Part of what makes this so fun to use it that you get to decide the consistency of it. All you do is add water and so the less water you add, the thicker the paste is. It does definitely dry quickly so I often end up having to add a bit more water to my hand as i scrub the cleanser over my face. Activated charcoal does need some time to do its thing so after exfoliating, I usually let it sit for around 20 seconds before washing it off. I love the way it makes my skin feel fresh and rejuvenated. This cleanser is not going to magically remove your blackheads. In fact I've noticed that it almost makes them more visible become it helps bring them closer to the surface. This can be great as long as you follow up with either a pore strip or a peel off mask.

To read about the ingredients or to purchase, click here

Tips:

-Try using it in the shower. The warm steam helps open up your pores making this cleanser even more effective

-Since this cleanser is made fresh, you can choose what size you want to get. Get a smaller size if you do not plan on using it every day since each batch does have an expiration date

-Apply this cleanser with your fingers versus a washcloth/Clarisonic and you will have much better results!

-Since the cleanser is black, do not wear white or clothing you really care about when using it just in case! I would also recommend using a dark colored washcloth when you are washing it off

2. Freeman Feeling Beautiful Charcoal & Black Sugar Polishing Mask $4.29

My second favorite charcoal product right now is this dual face mask and scrub. Although I have always liked the idea of face masks, I have never used them very often. This is because I never liked how when it dried, it felt like you could not move your face without it cracking. I know that some people like the feeling of their skin tightening but I just can't stand it! Therefore I was super pleased to come across this mask which is not over drying and does not leave your face feeling like it is covered in plaster. In addition to the activated charcoal, this mask also contains black sugar which gives it a similar consistency to honey and makes it a sticky like honey as well. The piece of black sugar in this mask are bigger than in the Dark Angels face scrub so it is a more harsh exfoliation in comparison.

To purchase or to read further reviews, click here

To use, first wet your face. It says to do this on the instructions as well but when I first used it, I forgot and it made it a lot more difficult to apply. First squeeze some onto your fingers and start applying it by moving from one side of your face to another and squeezing more onto your fingers as you go. This mask definitely likes sticking to itself and so it took me a few uses before I figured out how to best apply it evenly. I usually will leave this on for around 10 minutes during which you will feel the mask warm slightly which helps it melt onto your face. Since this mask does not dry, you can also leave it on for longer as well. When it comes time to wash it off, I wet my fingers and then start to gently scrub. A lot of clumps will fall into the sink as you do so and you might need to keep rinsing off and wetting your fingers. After you do this, you should have a very light layer left on which is easier to scrub your face with. I then use a washcloth to gently wash the remaining mask off. Although I have not really noticed any long term effects, I like how refreshed my skin feels after each use.

Tips:

- Securely pull your hair back prior to use otherwise your hair will get stuck to your face

-Gently scrub your face in circular motions with your fingers for best results 

- After washing off the mask, apply a hot wash cloth over your face for a few seconds for a more refreshed feeling

- Read the instructions and wet your face first before applying!

- Make sure the cap is completely close after each use so that it does not dry out

3. Tea Bar Dirty Detox $6.00

Unfortunately, in order to enjoy this next charcoal product, you do need to be in the Portland area. The dirty detox is one of the signature drinks at the Tea Bar locations in Portland, Oregon. When I first saw a pictures of this drink a little over a year ago I was intrigued by its appearance. Don't be turned off though! The actual drink tastes like lemonade with a pleasant hint of lavender. There are little flecks of charcoal that float around n the drink which I personally enjoy since it gives it texture. This drink is brewed with activated charcoal and also includes lavender petals, raw honey and cold pressed lemon juice.

(Dirty Detox featured on the left)

The drink claims to help rid your body of unwanted toxins and act as a detox although personally I have not noticed any differences. I really just enjoy this drink for its taste and cool color. It is only served cold making it the perfect beverage during warmer weather!

Next Charcoal Product:

The newest charcoal product I am trying out is the "Lush BOOM! Toothy Tabs" $9.99  I had read several positive reviews claiming that these help naturally whiten teeth and won't cause teeth sensitivity which I have had problems with in the past. I had these on my list of products to try for weeks but unfortunately all of the Lush stores in the Portland area were sold out. Earlier this month I finally got a call letting me know that more bottles had arrived. So far I have been trying to use a tab every day after my normal tooth paste. I plan on writing a review after I have used them for longer so stay tuned!

Thank you for reading! I have loved discovering and trying out new charcoal products so if please let me know any other ones I should try in the comments below. Also, if you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them :)